[DaveC]

Hi All,

I have been keen for a while to get a feel for the sound of the Aspen amps.  A little while ago an AKSA 55 came up on Fleabay, and it went for a figure I couldn't resist.  I'll be trying it with my rebuilt Quad 57's, so I'll have to be gentle.

It looks like it was professionally built, albeit in a cheap crappy chassis.  It is configured with dual 160VA toroidals, but only cheap Jaycar MT2114 ones - not sure whether there is any value in changing them for better ones.

More interestingly, I expected that it would be the basic boards, but having received it I am not so sure.  There are a number of Blackgates on the boards, which makes we wonder if the boards are Nirvana or even N+ spec.  How can you tell what boards they are?

On each board there are 3 x Black Gate BG-NX Hi-Q, one 50V 100mcF Blackgate standard , and there are three regular Rubycon electrolytics (63V 120mcF if my memory serves me well).  Power supply caps are Nippon Chemi-Con if that is any help.

Additionally, it came with no documentation at all.  Does anyone have a copy of the build manual/instructions they could send me? 

Thanks in advance,

Dave
Melbourne, Australia

[AKSA]

Dave,

Why on earth don't you ring me, or drop me an email?

I'm quite happy to oblige you for the cost of printing, which is minimal.

I would say it's a stock AKSA which has been pirate 'upgraded'.  It should have different caps in the power supply if it were an N or N+.

How do you like it?

Hugh

[DaveC]

Wow, that was quick!

Thanks Hugh - I'll follow up off-line.

I haven?t listened to the amp you ? I wanted to check the bias before firing it up.  I don?t want to fry either it or my Quads, and since I know nothing of its history I plan on being cautious.

Certainly looking forward to getting it running.

Cheers,

Dave